Method and system for conducting pre-employment process

ABSTRACT

A system and method for collecting and validating information in connection with the pre-employment process. A potential employee is presented with a plurality of questions relating to at least one of personal profile information, personal identification information, employment information, regulatory information, and policy acknowledgement information. One or more responses to the plurality of questions are received from the potential employee. The responses are stored in a database. Upon receiving the responses, at least one of (i) transmitting at least one of the responses to a third party service provider for validation; and (ii) reporting at least one of the responses to a regulatory body, an exchange or an association is automatically performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to conducting the pre-employment processof gathering and validating information provided by potential employees.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Virtually all companies require that potential new employee provide somelevel of information about themselves in connection with thepre-employment process. Certain companies, however, are highly regulated(e.g., financial services companies) and thus require a great deal ofinformation from their potential new employee. Much of this informationmust be validated by and/or reported to sources outside the company.This process is cumbersome and time consuming, both to the potential newemployee and to the company that seeks to employ him. Thus, there existsa need for a method and system for accurately gathering all theinformation required of potential new employee, and validating suchinformation to the extent necessary, in a timely and cost efficientmanner. In addition, it would be very helpful if the informationprovided by the potential new employee during the hiring process couldbe used, after hiring, in the systems of the company that require suchinformation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a system and method for collectingand validating information in connection with the pre-employmentprocess. A potential employee is presented with a plurality of questionsrelating to at least one of personal profile information, personalidentification information, employment information, regulatoryinformation, and policy acknowledgement information. One or moreresponses to the plurality of questions are received from the potentialemployee. The responses are stored in a database. Upon receiving theresponses, at least one of (i) transmitting at least one of theresponses to a third party service provider for validation; and (ii)reporting at least one of the responses to a regulatory body, anexchange or an association is automatically performed.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and,together with the description, serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

In the drawings:

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate an exemplary logical overview of a system inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary database schema that may be used in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary user interface screen that may be used inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary user interface screen that may be used inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary user interface screen that may be used inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary user interface screen that may be used inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention facilitates the collection of information inconnection with the pre-employment process. FIG. 1A illustrates anexemplary logical overview of a system that may be used in connectionwith carrying out the present invention. Clients 100 and 101 communicatewith the system 102 over a communications network, such as a WAN (e.g.,the Internet), using a framework hosted by the company, in the preferredembodiment. Client 100 is used by a potential new employee, which whenused in conjunction with a user module of system 102 provides access tothe inventive system, thereby allowing the potential new employee toaccess forms and policies. Client 101 is used by an administrativeemployee of the company, which when used in conjunction with anadministrative module of system 102 provides access to the inventivesystem, thereby allowing the administrative employee to complete apotential new employee's hiring process, view data entered by thepotential new employee, print forms, and view reports. Data received bythe system 102 may be stored in database 103, and subsequently providedto database 106 (e.g., a database dedicated to storing human resourcesdata for employees of the company). System 102 also communicates withthird party service providers 104 and regulatorybodies/exchanges/associations 105 (i.e., entities other than thecompany). Reports module 110 is used as the reporting interface to thepresent invention. Such reports may include forms that require thesignature of the potential new employee or reports for theadministration of the company.

FIG. 2 is a database schema for database 103, illustrating an example ofthe way in which data collected in connection with the present inventionmay be stored. The various data feeds used in connection with thepresent invention are described as follows, with reference to FIG. 1B. Apotential new employee's application is triggered when the administratorof the human resources database 106 changes his applicant status in thedatabase 106 to “ready to hire”. The database 106 triggers a procedurewhich sends the potential new employee information to the database 103over a DB Link. For first time hires, the database 106 is polled hourlyto determine if an applicant has been hired and if so, passes theemployee identification and hire date to database 106. For rehires, whenthe employee is “rehired” in database 106, a feed is triggered whichupdates database 103 with the re-hire date.

When the administrator “completes” the potential new employee in thesystem, a feed is generated from the system 102 to the database 106. Aset of stored procedures on the database 103 send the data over the DBlink to the database 106. An applicant is said to be “complete” once hehas been hired in database 106 and has been cleared to hire by thestaffing department. On completion, a feed to compliance 109 istriggered. An xml message is created using an xml template and the datafrom the database 103. On completion, another feed to the third partyservice providers 104 and regulatory bodies/associations 105 istriggered. An xml message is created using an xml template and the datafrom the database. This xml message is sent to third party serviceproviders 104 and regulatory bodies/associations 105 over an httpsconnection.

The following example illustrates one way in which the present inventioncan be implemented. A potential new employee communicates to thecompany/potential employer a desire to become employed by the company. Ahuman resources representative within the company enters basicinformation regarding the potential new employee into a database 106,thereby creating an applicant record. The status of the record isdefaulted to “inactive”. Upon activating the record, a message (e.g., anelectronic mail message) is created and sent to the potential newemployee by system 102, and received by the potential new employee atclient 101. In other embodiments, the message can be sent byconventional means (e.g., via the postal service) or communicated to thepotential new employee in person or over the telephone. The messageprovides the potential new employee with a user identification number, apassword, and a hyperlink (or identification of an internet address) toa website that will allow the potential new employee to utilize thesystem of the present invention.

Using client 101, the potential new employee navigates to the websiteindicated in the message to commence the pre-employment process. Uponentering the potential new employee's identification number andpassword, the potential new employee is presented with a series ofscreens. The screens walk the potential new employee through thepre-employment process and, in particular, present to the potential newemployee a series of questions, the answers to which are required by thecompany in order to consider hiring a new employee. The informationrequested from the potential new employee may include personal profileinformation (general information, emergency contact information,education/language information, and prior employment information);personal identification information (disabled and veteran status, raceand ethnicity); employment and regulatory information (registrationinformation, SEC questionnaire, outside account identification, outsideaffiliation identification); and policy acknowledgements and releases(e.g., acknowledgment of employee guides and handbooks, confidentialityagreement, consent to jurisdiction, intellectual property assignmentagreement, authorization for background investigations, application foremployment, and consent for drug analysis). The information provided bythe employee by way of this process may be stored in database 106 andfed into other systems within the company that require it, thusproviding timely and accurate employee data to such systems.

In the preferred embodiment, the basic forms provided to the potentialnew employee (apart from the pop-up screen functionality describedbelow) are determined by pre-populated data regarding the potential newemployee previously inputted by, e.g., human resources personnel. Forexample, such data items may include the region, business unit, andemployee type (regular or campus). Exemplary screens, showing questionsregarding personal profile information, personal identificationinformation, employment and regulatory information, and policyacknowledgements and releases are shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 5 and 6,respectively.

In certain embodiments, the questions and requests for informationpresented to the potential new employee are tailored based on thepotential new employee's identity, where the potential new employeeresides, and/or the response provided by the potential new employee to aparticular question presented, thereby allowing the potential newemployee to provide additional information for a particular line ofquestioning. Thus, for example, if the potential new employee is fromCalifornia, an authorization for drug analysis is not presented forcompletion by the potential new employee. By way of further example, ifthe potential new employee enters “yes” to the question as to whether hehas a degree beyond high school, a screen will be presented asking thathe select a school.

To the extent the pre-employment process requires that the potential newemployee complete a form that requires a physical signature, thepotential new employee can print out the form using the system andsubmit it to the company in a conventional manner.

Upon entering the requested information and indicating an intent tosubmit such information to the employer, the data representing suchinformation is transmitted over the network to the system 102. Databases103/106 are populated with this data. Such databases may include thosededicated to storing human resources related data and compliance data,such as database 106. In addition, certain information may beautomatically transmitted by the system 102 to third party serviceproviders 104 or regulatory bodies/exchanges/associations 105. In suchembodiments, fields within the database 103 are tagged, indicating whichdata is to be provided to the third party service provider 104 orregulatory body/exchange/association 105. Further, the database 103includes a “status” field, which when tagged as “completed” indicatesthat the data is ready to be sent to the third party service provider104 or regulatory body/exchange/association 105. Once the data has beencollected and successfully sent to the third party service provider 104or regulatory body/exchange/association 105, a “sent” field is marked toensure the data is not sent twice. The third party service providers 104assist in validating the information submitted by the potential newemployee. For example, the third party service provider 104 may conducta background check regarding the potential new employee. By way offurther example, certain financial services companies are required toprovide data regarding new employees to certain regulatory bodies,exchanges and associations 105 (e.g., the Securities ExchangeCommission, the New York Stock Exchange, and the National Association ofSecurities Dealers). In one embodiment, the forms are versioned suchthat a potential new employee is always presented with the same set offorms with which he was presented when he first accessed the system,irrespective of whether the forms subsequently change. When thepotential new employee first logs in, the system takes a snapshot of allthe forms the potential new employee should see based on, e.g., locationand employee type, and stores it in the database along with the latestversion number of that form. Because the forms and the content of theforms change frequently, the queries to fetch data and save data aredynamically generated. Each form is mapped to a table one to one or manyto one. The form to table mapping is stored in the database 103, as isthe form field to the table field mapping. This data is used to createthe queries at runtime. The final submit and checking required fieldslogic is also made to be database driven. As the number of forms and theforms themselves may be different for different potential new employees,the required field logic is dynamic to suit this variation. The systemis structured in such a way that various components and APIs provide thefunctionality needed for the smooth functioning of the versioning andthe configuration of forms. The various components and APIs aredescribed below.

The API used to determine user forms identifies the forms that apotential new employee should see when he first logs into the system.When the potential new employee logs into the system, after checking hisuserid, the system determines the principal id for that person.Thereafter, the system calls this API, which queries the database 103(NH_FORMS) and obtains the list of forms the potential new employeeshould see, irrespective of the status. The API also determines thelatest version of these forms. It updates the NH_USER_FORMS table withthe list of form along with versions a potential new hire should seethroughout his lifetime.

The API used to update the current status forms in the session reads theforms that the potential new employee should see for the current statusfrom the NH_USER_FORMS table and updates the session. This API is calledwhenever the potential new hire logs onto the system and also when thestatus changes.

The API used to render left navigation creates the Left Navigation basedon the forms the potential new hire should see. It takes from thesession the forms (NH_FORMS_CATALOG) belonging to the sections(NH_FORM_SECTION) having the section type as “LEFT”. This API generatesthe html code along with the links and sequence. This API will beinvoked from the front end Left Nav jsp to add the left nav to eachpage.

The API used to render right navigation creates the Right Navigationbased on the forms the potential new hire should see. It takes from thesession the forms (NH_FORMS_CATALOG) belonging to the sections(NH_FORM_SECTION) having the section type as “RIGHT”. This API generatesthe html code along with the links and sequence. This API will beinvoked from the front end Right Nav jsp to add the right nav to eachpage.

The API to determine the next sequential page and the previoussequential page determines the form id, form name and the physical formfile name for the next/previous sequential form that the potential newhire should see. This is required to determine what will be the targetpage for the Next and Previous buttons.

The API to get the master data for the target form obtains the masterdata (NH_FORMS_MASTER_DATA) for the target form from the cache. If themaster data does not exist in the cache, it runs the code to cache thedata and then obtains it from the cache. If that caching fails, then itobtains it directly from the database.

The API to render the print form page creates the Print Form Page basedon the report forms the potential new employee should see. It takes fromthe session the forms (NH_FORMS_CATALOG) belonging to the sections(NH_FORM_SECTION) having the section type as “REPORT”. This APIgenerates the html code along with the links and sequence. This API willbe invoked from the Report.jsp.

The component to load master data and other form related data in cacheis executed on server startup and caches all the results of the SQLqueries from the NH_MASTER_DATA table. It also caches other frequentlyused data, such as table to form mapping and table field to form fieldmapping. The master data may need to be reloaded during the serverruntime. StartupServlet jsp in the NHADMIN folder when invoked on eachmanaged server will achieve the task of reloading the cache with all thecached data.

With regard to the API to determine the Pop Up page for the base page,some fields in the base page (jsps loaded in the same window) bring up apop up (new window) when a particular value is selected. Upon thismapping of the field, the pop up page it brings up and the value atwhich the pop up is enabled is stored in the NH_FORMS_RELATIONSHIPStable. With regard to the API to handle delete of pop up data, when thevalue of the pop up field on the base page is toggled to any value otherthan the one stored in the NH_FORMS_RELATIONSHIPS table, then on clickof save/previous/next button, the data in the pop up page table is to bedeleted. Thus, an API is called at every action, which checks if any popup page is associated with the base page and, if yes, deletes the dataif the value for that field does not match with that stored in theNH_FORMS_RELATIONSHIPS table.

The API to get the table name for a form name and vice versa returns thetable name mapped to a given form. This is required while dynamicallycreating the update/insert or select query. The form for which the datais to be inserted/updated (srcPage) will be known. The form for whichthe data is to be fetched (targetPage) will also be known. The querywill be generated by first fetching the table names corresponding tothis form.

The API to get the table field names for the form field names and viceversa returns the table field names for the given form fields for thegiven form and vice versa. This, again, is required to dynamically buildthe query as mentioned above.

With regard to the API to handle the final submit, in the final submitof the application, it must be determined if all of the required fieldare complete. Each form jsp checks for the required fields in anindividual form and sets the IS_COMPLETE flag to Y or N, as the case maybe. During final submit, all these flags are checked to determine whichforms were not complete. Then, the potential new employee is directed toa page which lists the form as incomplete and the links on the left navis reddened. Also, when the incomplete jsp is rendered, the jsps checksthe value of the required fields and if it is null or blank, it reddensthe field.

With regard to the API to handle special logic, because the code forreading data for a particular jsp and saving data for the other jsp ispretty standard and reused, there is little scope for any special rules.Thus, the concept of special logic API is added. The idesk requestobject with all the request data is passed to this methodexecuteSrcPageExceptionMethod in the NewHireExceptionalMethods class.This method checks as to whether any EXCEPTION_METHOD_SRC_PAGE exists inNH_FORMS_CATALOG. If yes, this method invokes theEXCEPTION_METHOD_SRC_PAGE method using reflection. This method takes theIDeskRequestObject and processes it and returns an IDeskRequestObjectagain.

While getting data for the Target page, theexecuteTrgPageExceptionMethod in NewHireExceptionalMethods class checkswhether the EXCEPTION_METHOD_TRG_PAGE exists in the NH_FORMS_CATALOG. Ifyes, this method is invokes EXCEPTION_METHOD_TRG_PAGE method. Thismethod takes the IDeskResponseObject and processes it and returns theIDeskResponseObject.

A flow chart, illustrating a preferred embodiment of a method forcollecting and validating information in connection with thepre-employment process, is shown in FIG. 7. In step 701, a potentialemployee is presented with a plurality of questions relating to at leastone of personal profile information, personal identificationinformation, employment information, regulatory information, and policyacknowledgement information. In step 702, one or more responses to theplurality of questions are received from the potential employee. In step703, the responses are stored in a database. In step 704, upon receivingthe responses, at least one of (i) transmitting at least one of theresponses to a third party service provider for validation; and (ii)reporting at least one of the responses to a regulatory body, exchangeor association is automatically performed. One or more of these stepsmay be performed by software running on a computer processing apparatus.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method comprising: (A)presenting to a potential employee of a potential employer, via acomputer, a plurality of questions relating to at least one of personalprofile information, personal identification information, employmentinformation, regulatory information, and policy acknowledgementinformation; (B) receiving from the potential employee, via a computer,one or more responses to the plurality of questions; (C) storing theresponses in a database; and (D) upon receiving the responses,automatically transmitting at least one of the responses, via acomputer, to a third party service provider to confirm accuracy of theat least one of the responses against a third party data source, thethird party service provider being an entity other than the potentialemployer.
 2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein thequestions presented to the potential employee are automaticallyselected, via a computer, based on at least one of an identity of thepotential employee, a location of the potential employee, or a responseby the potential employee to a previously presented question.
 3. Asystem comprising: memory operable to store computer executableinstructions; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory, in which the computer executable instructions, when executed bythe at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: presentto a potential employee, of a potential employer, a plurality ofquestions relating to at least one of personal profile information,personal identification information, employment information, regulatoryinformation, and policy acknowledgement information; receive from thepotential employee one or more responses to the plurality of questions;upon receiving the responses, automatically transmit at least one of theresponses to a third party service provider to confirm accuracy of theat least one of the responses against a third party data source, thethird party service provider being an entity other than the potentialemployer; and store the responses in a database communicatively coupledto said at least one processor and said memory.
 4. The system of claim 3wherein the at least one processor is further caused to automaticallyselect the questions presented to the potential employee based on atleast one of an identity of the potential employee, a location of thepotential employee, or a response by the potential employee to apreviously presented question.
 5. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor,perform a method comprising: (A) presenting to a potential employee of apotential employer, via a computer, a plurality of questions relating toat least one of personal profile information, personal identificationinformation, employment information, regulatory information, and policyacknowledgement information; (B) receiving from the potential employee,via a computer, one or more responses to the plurality of questions; (C)storing the responses in a database; and (D) upon receiving theresponses, automatically transmitting at least one of the responses, viaa computer, to a third party service provider to confirm accuracy of theat least one of the responses against a third party data source, thethird party service provider being an entity other than the potentialemployer.
 6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5wherein the questions presented to the potential employee areautomatically selected, via a computer, based on at least one of anidentity of the potential employee, a location of the potentialemployee, or a response by the potential employee to a previouslypresented question.
 7. A computer implemented method comprising: (A)presenting to a potential employee of a potential employer, via acomputer, a plurality of questions relating to at least one of personalprofile information, personal identification information, employmentinformation, regulatory information, and policy acknowledgementinformation; (B) receiving from the potential employee, via a computer,one or more responses to the plurality of questions; (C) storing theresponses in a database; and (D) upon receiving the responses,automatically reporting at least one of the responses, via a computer,to a regulatory body, an exchange or an association responsible forlicensing or regulating the potential employee.
 8. The computerimplemented method of claim 7 wherein the questions presented to thepotential employee are automatically selected, via a computer, based onat least one of an identity of the potential employee, a location of thepotential employee, or a response by the potential employee to apreviously presented question.
 9. A system comprising: memory operableto store computer executable instructions; and at least one processorcommunicatively coupled to the memory, in which the computer executableinstructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the atleast one processor to: present to a potential employee of a potentialemployer a plurality of questions relating to at least one of personalprofile information, personal identification information, employmentinformation, regulatory information, and policy acknowledgementinformation; receive from the potential employee one or more responsesto the plurality of questions; upon receiving the responses,automatically report at least one of the responses to a regulatory body,an exchange or an association responsible for licensing or regulatingthe potential employee; and store the responses in a databasecommunicatively coupled to said at least one processor and said memory.10. The system of claim 9 wherein the at least one processor is furthercaused to automatically select the questions presented to the potentialemployee based on at least one of an identity of the potential employee,a location of the potential employee, or a response by the potentialemployee to a previously presented question.
 11. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed bya processor, perform a method comprising: (A) presenting to a potentialemployee of a potential employer, via a computer, a plurality ofquestions relating to at least one of personal profile information,personal identification information, employment information, regulatoryinformation, and policy acknowledgement information; (B) receiving fromthe potential employee, via a computer, one or more responses to theplurality of questions; (C) storing the responses in a database; and (D)upon receiving the responses, automatically reporting, via a computer,at least one of the responses to a regulatory body, an exchange or anassociation responsible for licensing or regulating the potentialemployee.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11wherein the questions presented to the potential employee areautomatically selected, via a computer, based on at least one of anidentity of the potential employee, a location of the potentialemployee, or a response by the potential employee to a previouslypresented question.
 13. The computer implemented method of claim 1further comprising: (E) upon receiving the responses, automaticallyreporting at least one of the responses, via a computer, to a regulatorybody, an exchange or an association responsible for licensing orregulating the potential employee.
 14. The system of claim 3 whereinupon receiving the responses, the at least one processor is furthercaused to automatically report at least one of the responses to aregulatory body, an exchange or an association responsible for licensingor regulating the potential employee.
 15. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 5 further comprising: (E) uponreceiving the responses, automatically reporting, via a computer, atleast one of the responses to a regulatory body, an exchange or anassociation responsible for licensing or regulating the potentialemployee.